A “holistic” sonographic view on congenital heart disease: How automatic reconstruction using fetal intelligent navigation echocardiography eases unveiling of abnormal cardiac anatomy part II—Left heart anomalies

Abstract

Volume ultrasound has been shown to provide valid complementary information on fetal anatomy. Four‐dimensional assessment (4D) of the fetal cardiovascular system using spatial–temporal image correlation (STIC) allows for detailed examination of a highly complex organ from the early second trimester onward. There is compelling evidence that this technique harbors quite a number of diagnostic opportunities, but manual navigation through STIC volume datasets is highly operator dependent. In fact, STIC is not incorporated yet into daily practice. Application of the novel fetal intelligent navigation echocardiography (FINE) considerably simplifies fetal cardiac volumetric examinations. This automatic technique applied on cardiac volume datasets reportedly has both high sensitivity and specificity for the detection of congenital heart defects (CHDs). Part I reviewed current data regarding detection rates of CHDs and illustrated the additional value of an automatic approach in delineating cardiac anatomy exemplified by congenital lesions of the right heart. In part II of this pictorial essay, we focused on left heart anomalies and aimed to tabulate recent findings on the quantification of normal and abnormal cardiac anatomy.

Assessment of left ventricular function by spatio‐temporal image correlation in fetuses with fetal growth restriction

“…Acoustic shadowing, fetal or maternal movements and maternal body habitus interfere STIC acquisition. Using STIC requires extra time 23 . Volumes produced with VOCAL and contour finder trace using 15° rotation provide a high degree of agreement in this study compared to other 3D volume techniques, 9 completed an offline data analysis for about 10 min.…”

“…Using STIC requires extra time. 23 Volumes produced with VOCAL and contour finder trace using 15 • rotation provide a high degree of agreement in this study compared to other 3D volume techniques, 9 completed an offline data analysis for about 10 min. Some scholars propose to use 30 • rotation because it has been proved to take less post-processing time and has good agreement with other 3D volume techniques.…”

Improvement of diagnostic efficiency in fetal congenital heart disease using fetal intelligent navigation echocardiography by less‐experienced operators

“…It is well-known that prenatal examination for CHD using traditional echocardiography has reported low sensitivity (22.5%-52.8%). 19,20 Therefore, new and effective examination methods are needed.…”

The Use of Artificial Intelligence in Automation in the Fields of Gynaecology and Obstetrics – an Assessment of the State of Play

“…Yeo et al showed that 98% of cardiac abnormalities could be detected using this method 59 . This has been shown to be easy to learn and simplifies work-flows to evaluate the foetal heart independently of expert practitioners, a feature that is particularly important for capturing congenital anomalies in detail 60 , 61 .…”

“…Yeo et al konnten so zeigen, dass kardiale Vitien mit einer Sensitivität von 98% detektiert werden können 59 . Die Methode ist dabei nachweislich einfach zu erlernen und in der Lage Arbeitsabläufe bei der Evaluation des fetalen Herzens untersucher un abhängig zu vereinfachen, was insbesondere bei der detaillierten Erfassung kongenitaler Anomalien von Bedeutung ist 60 , 61 .…”